"Ah!" said Foster; "that was curious, but we'll let it go in the meantime. I suppose there is something else?"
"Since you left, the police have paid me another visit. They asked some rather strange questions, besides inquiring where you were."
"Which you couldn't tell them!"
"I didn't know," Featherstone rejoined pointedly, and Foster saw that Alice had said nothing about his recent visit. She gave him an inquiring glance, as if she wondered why he did not state his reasons for going to Newcastle, but he looked as unobservant as he could. He could not signal her, because while this might escape his host's notice he was afraid of Mrs. Featherstone.
"Well," he said, "it might be better if you, so to speak, formulated your suspicions and made a definite charge. After all, I'm entitled to hear it."
"I do so most unwillingly, but feel an explanation is needed. To begin with, we had one short letter from my son, stating that he could not come home but you would tell us how he was getting on. This was all; he said nothing about Daly, or his starting east with you. You arrived with his portmanteau and what I now think is a rather curious story. Then, after Daly wrote, you suggested an extraordinary plan, which, as the fellow came here, has not worked very well. Besides, the police have made inquiries about you and there's something mysterious about your journeys. I do not think they were all intended to mislead Daly."
"All this is true," Foster admitted. "But you haven't stated the conclusions you draw from it."
"The conclusions are vague but disturbing. Lawrence trusted you and, you tell us, started with you for a place he did not intend to reach. Since then he has vanished. It is possible that you have deceived both him and us."
"That's rather absurd," Alice remarked. "I really don't think Mr.
Foster would make a very dangerous plotter, and you admitted that
Lawrence trusted him."
"I did," Featherstone rejoined sharply, as if he resented the interruption. "Still I don't see your argument."